Pollution Prevention and Control Act
Regulation of industrial
pollution
The Environmental Protection Act 1990 introduced a regime of
controlling industries which emit significant levels of pollution
to all environmental media (air, land and water). This has now been
superceded by a new regime under the Pollution Prevention and
Control Act 1999.
Under this new regime, Local Authorities are required to regulate
the smaller industries termed Part A2 and Part B installations.
Where as the Environment Agency regulates the larger industries,
which are known as Part A1 installations.
Emissions to all environmental media must be controlled from Part
A1 and A2 installations and such installations are also required to
account for energy efficiency and to control against Noise
Pollution. Part B installations on the other hand are regulated for
emissions to air only.
The system of control is called Integrated Pollution Prevention and
Control (IPPC) for A1 installations where the Environment Agency is
the regulator and Local Authority Integrated Pollution Prevention
and Control (LA-IPPC) for A2 installations where Local Authorities
are the regulators.
As part of this regime, Bedford Borough Council issues permits to
all of the Part A2 and Part B installations within the Borough. The
conditions integral within the permits require Operators to meet
emission limits and to install appropriate technology so as to
ensure compliance with the National Air Quality Standards for
example. These Installations are regularly inspected by Officers
from the Council to ensure that they are complying with these
conditions.
Environmental Health is responsible for permitting approximately 60
installations within the Borough. These range from petrol stations,
vehicle body shops and cement plants to small foundries, asphalt
plants and even the crematoria.
Much of the information regarding the existing installations is
kept on a public register held at the offices in the Town Hall. For
example, copies of all applications for permits and details of any
monitoring that has been carried out and any legal action that has
been taken against site Operators is all contained in the
register.
It costs nothing to read the register, although we do make a small
fee for photocopying, so if you would like to have a look at the
register please contact Environmental Health on - 01234 267422. For
information on Part A1 installations within the Borough, please
visit the Environment Agency’s website, click on link below:
Environment Agency's
website
(To access the PPCA Guidance for Operators page, click on the link
below under Related Pages)